Of Deep Talks and Groosenators
by Scented-Marker-Sniffer
Summary: In which Groose and Link have a conversation about death, and Groose realizes that maybe Link isn't such a big dope after all.


**By the end of SS, Groose was one of my favorite characters; I really liked the way the town bully became one of Link's most important allies and perhaps even friends (especially during those annoying Imprisoned battles—wow!). So I wrote this quick one-shot both for that, and because death—or at least how it could be viewed by the hero—in the Legend of Zelda kinda intrigues me for some reason? **

**Reviews are much appreciated but certainly not required. Thank you for visiting and I hope you enjoy!**

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It had been a while since there had been such a peaceful day in the Sealed Grounds.

There had been so much activity lately—portals opening, a horrible evil breaking out of its prison more than what seemed absolutely necessary, Zelda sealing herself into the past—that Groose had almost been caught off guard by the sudden quiet, uneventful day. He remained on guard for several hours, ready to jump on whatever danger arose, before deciding he may as well take advantage of the momentary lull to make some improvements on his Groosenator. Judging by what Grannie said, that ugly thing—the Imprisoned, as both Link and Grannie called it—could very well break free again, and soon, but Groose's machine was just going to improve to match it. Launching Link at the beast, while probably not much fun for the kid, had actually been a decent battle strategy. Though, he was a fair deal lighter than Groose's bombs, so he decided it would be best to be able to adjust the force of the catapult; he didn't want to accidentally send Link into the Faron Woods during a battle, after all.

The formerly arrogant teenager was so engrossed in his work, tinkering underneath the machine, that he didn't notice someone's voice until it was hollering dangerously close. "Groose… _Groose!"_

Taken by surprise, said boy gave a ghastly scream and burst out from under the Groosenator, promptly smashing his head against the side of the machine with an alarming _chong_.

Laughter soon reached his ears, and after the stars cleared from his vision, Groose flushed with embarrassment when he saw none other than Link standing there, trying to hide his amusement for Groose's sake but failing quickly. Despite the laugher, Link looked tired—then again, he always looked tired these days. Groose hadn't seen him in probably more than a week; he wouldn't have been surprised if the formerly sleep-loving boy hadn't slept much more than a wink in that time. Lines of dried blood were traced in rusty-brown streaks from the corners of his mouth and a fresh scab just below his hairline, and the fabric around his elbows and knees was torn and stained.

Despite his battered appearance, Link's big, tired grin remained. "Look alive, Groose," he chuckled, walking closer. "Hit your head pretty hard, didn'tcha? Sounded kinda hollow to me?" He stopped and waited for Groose to take the bait, and the taller teen did, climbing out from under the machine to stand before his friend with arms folded crossly.

"Shut up!" Groose snapped, jabbing a finger at Link's now-crooked nose, only half-serious, "You know better than to sneak up on a guy like that! For all I knew the seal was breakin' again, and you were nowhere in sight!"

Link just chuckled and shook his head, walking past Groose and not bothering to wonder how the golden-eyed teen had mistaken his leisurely footfalls for the earth-ripping tremors that denoted the seal's deterioration. "How have things been here? No Imprisoned, no Demon Lords, no more floods…?" His tone was joking but worry was present in his expression, and Groose rolled his eyes good-humoredly.

"Yeah, yeah, me and Grannie are just fine. Pretty quiet today. I was just doing a little work on my Groosenator. She's a beauty, ain't she?" Groose gestured grandly to his machine, and Link stared at it, trying to figure out if it actually looked any different from last time and why in the Goddess' name Groose seemed to have decided it was female.

"… I suppose," he chuckled. The whole concept of the 'Groosenator', while it served a noble cause, was still such a ridiculous concept in Link's mind that he tended to laugh whenever it came up.

"See, now don't you worry. If Big Ugly ever comes back, we'll give 'im a pounding!" Groose enthusiastically thumped one fist into the other to display said beat-down, and once Link nodded in agreement with the statement, the red-haired teen felt reassured enough to duck back under the contraption to continue working. Link took a seat on the platform of the machine, carelessly waving off Groose's cries, "Hey, hey! I'm working on that!"

"So," Groose said, finally choosing to ignore Link sitting on the machine, "Whatcha doing here? Thought you were busy with dragons or something like that."

Link idly played with a gear on the side of the gadget. "Yeah, I am… I just came here to rest up for the night. I was going to go to Skyloft, but it was just a bit too far for me today…" Feeling his description may have still been too cryptic, he added, "… It happened again, you know."

At this Groose came out from under the Groosenator, eyes wide. _"Again?_ Seriously?" Link shrugged without looking him in the eye, feeling a little bad that this always gave his new friend so much grief, and Groose continued, "What is that now, like, _six times?_ You oughta be more careful! I mean…" He cringed. "Just how many times can you… you know… before you actually… _yeah?_"

Link smiled at his friend's ineloquence, sadly. "It's okay to say 'die,' Groose," he said softly, staring out at the olive-hued expanse of the Sealed Grounds, "Death is normal. You know that."

Groose grumbled at the statement. "Yeah, yeah, I know, you've said that before... But c'mon, really? I mean, I know you always have a fairy on you to bring you back, but… what if one day, you… don't? Huh? Then what happens?"

"… I don't know," Link admitted quietly, and Groose was so chilled by the _not knowing_ that he quickly changed the topic to the Dragons and the Triumph Forks ("No, _Triforce,_ you dolt!") that Link had been searching for. They talked until Link's exhaustion overtook him, his posture crumbling until he was splayed out on the platform, sleeping soundly with all of his equipment still strapped to his back.

Groose rolled his eyes, (gently) pushed the sleeping kid off onto the tracks, pulled off his sword and shield, and continued working until nightfall, grumbling the whole time about stupid monsters and stupid kid that was sent on some stupid mission fraught with stupid monsters that kept killing him.

He finished his work after sunset, and cheerfully wiped the sweat off his forehead, testing the machine several times, hurling rocks down into the pit far below. Once he was satisfied that the Groosenator was ready for battle, he plopped onto the tracks next to Link, figuring maybe he could catch a bit of sleep too before the kid woke up… and at that moment Link grunted, a sleepy, painful sound, unseeing eyes dragging open and one hand reaching clumsily around himself for what Groose assumed was his sword. With a tired, chuckling sigh, Groose nudged the hilt of the blade into Link's grasp, watching bruised fingers curl around it. Finally, Link's eyes opened fully, and he sat up, gaze still bleary. He looked around, seeming confused by his surroundings, calling indistinctly, "Fi…?"

Groose lightly smacked the back of Link's head, and after a moment the confusion cleared from the boy's eyes. Link smiled hesitantly at his new friend and Groose smirked back; not exchanging any words, Groose sat forward and let his legs dangle off the edge fo the tracks and Link joined him, watching the stars come out one by one as the last light of the setting sun disappeared below the far horizon. This was something they always did when Link came to visit, without fail—they both seemed to find some vestige of comfort in watching the stars that looked the same on the Surface as they had at home in the sky.

They sat in silence for a length of time, listening to the chirps and chatters of insects that Link named in his head, when Groose spoke with uncharacteristic softness, as if disturbing the peace too suddenly might make it shatter like glass. "How did it happen this time, anyway?"

Link hummed for a moment, glancing up searchingly as if there were too many such memories in his head to keep track of them all. "… Blood loss. It was blood loss, this time. See, I was fighting this Lizalfos, but I was reckless, not fighting defensively, and it caught me in the stomach with its armored fist. I killed it, but Fi—you know Fi—told me some of my organs had ripped open, and I couldn't reach my last fairy… It was slow."

Groose tried not to let the images the tale gave him sink into his head (a broken body lying on the ground, fingers clutching desperately for an elixir that they just couldn't reach, great amounts of blood pouring out of his mouth as he gave death's rattling cough), mentally adding this to the ever-growing list of electric shock, scorpion venom, an arrow through the heart, and plunges into various fatal substances. Groose tried his best not to dwell on Link's visits with death—Link didn't, after all, or at least it seemed like he didn't—but sometimes they were hard to just brush off.

"Is… Is it scary?" Groose nearly whispered. "D—…" He swallowed hard. "Dying, I-I mean."

Link stared at the stars thoughtfully. "No… I mean, the first time it happened, when I came back from… wherever I go, it terrified me; I couldn't stop dwelling on what might have happened had I not had a fairy in my bottle… But after a few times I guess I realized that what happens, happens. If my whole destiny is supposed to be preordained by fate… If one day I'm not careful and I get run through with a spear or crushed by a boulder or something and I don't have a fairy to save me, wouldn't that be the Goddess' intention? What right to I have to defy Her? So… Well, because of that, I have something to ask you…" He drew in a breath, having intended to have this talk with Groose for a while now but never having the courage to muster up his request. "… If one day I leave here and never come back… Can you promise me that you'll do whatever you can for this place? For Zelda?"

All was quiet for a moment. Even the forest's insects seemed to have gone silent at the hero's plea.

_"Hey!"_ The sudden shatter of the silence made Link jump in surprise, before turning to his friend incredulously, wondering what could have upset him so much. Groose's previously relaxed posture had become stiff and he glared at the hero. _"Never_ talk like that!" Groose ordered, finger jabbing in Link's face like it always used to, "I won't let you! I mean, you can't die, Link… We need you here!" He waited for some kind of meaningful comprehension to light in Link's eyes, but it didn't, the hero simply staring at him in confusion. Getting more upset by the second, Groose sprang up and began pacing rapidly while Link's eyes followed him, mouth half-open but no words leaving it, "I mean, you're the _hero,_ right? I used to think that if you messed up and got yourself killed someday that someone else, _I_, could cover for you, but we _can't._ It's gotta be _you!_ _You_ need to save the world; we can't do it without you! Skyloft needs you, me and Grannie need you, Zelda needs you! So you _see?_ You can't die, Link, you _can't."_

Link sighed, shaking his head ruefully like Groose was a child that didn't understand. "Groose, what happens happens, you have to understand that…"

Groose bellowed so loud that birds scattered out of the trees behind him, "Fate doesn't _control_ you! It's _your_ decision whether you live or you die! It's _your_ fate! Not the Goddess', not anyone's! No one else's!"

Link's eyebrows scrunched thoughtfully, and Groose continued passionately,

"And I hope you know that the next time you're stupid enough to fall into a pit of lava or get socked in the stomach, I'll make sure I come runnin' to jam a potion down your throat, 'cause there's only two people down here that're allowed to give you a hard time, and that's Zelda and me!"

Link didn't say anything, but his expression, previously world-weary and grim, lifted into a small, quiet smile, and Groose's own lips stretched up into a big grin. Link understood. Link finally understood.

Groose plopped back down next to his friend, letting out a deep breath as he finally calmed down. "So... don't go thinkin' that you're gonna die ever again, you know? 'Cause you're not. We're all here to make sure of that."

"Yeah…" Link stared at the stars. "Thanks, Groose."

In the morning, the hero felt well enough to head back out into the world to find the next dragon. "Grannie" wished him luck, Groose pounded on his shoulder in his idea of an encouraging pat and Link patiently received three bottles full of fairies from his worried friend ("Worried? Why should I have to be worried about a twerpy hero like you?!"). Finally, he approached the nearby Bird Statue and let the sudden gust of wind throw him skyward, beaming as he watched both Grannie and Groose wave to him from below.

He was going to finish this adventure and save Zelda, _without_ dying, because Link knew that if he died, Groose would kill him for sure.


End file.
